this pressure but would [almost render the
work of this last department nil in the
cramped position it would be forced to occu
py. Nevertheless efforts should be made to
procure the wherewithall for establishing and
maintaining this department. We are the
State College of a State noted throughout the
world for its mining industries; we are situ
ated within the very boundaries of the mining
districts, and yet we have no mining engineer-
ing courses. Personally we have known and
heard of different instances, where young
men, while they had the preference for this
college, were obliged to go elsewhere to pur
sue their mining-engineering studies.
ONE rarely has the opportunity of listening
to a discourse upon a popular question
so able, so penetrating, so convincing, as that
delivered on November 20th, by Ex-Senator
W. K. Bruce, on the race problem. The
earnestness of the man in dealing with the
question which doubtless lies nearest his
heart, was contagious, to say the least, and
well nigh irresistible, Mr. Bruce touched the
key-note of the situation when he dwelt so
long and emphatically upon the remedy of
education. Education has been, and will al
ways continue to be, the means of solving for
our country many otherwise impossible prob
lems. As citizens of ah enlightened' republic
we are living to-day upon the brink of a threat
ening volcano which is sputtering and rumb
ling beneath our very feet. I H "ew persons
realize the greatness of the danger and the
suddenness with which it may overtake us.
That an intense race feeling pervades the dif
ferent sections of our country is amply testi
THE FREE LANCE.
fied to by the accounts of every newspaper we
read; that this feeling in some places exists
in such a degree as to border almost upon
open warfare and bloodshed, is also well
known. It appears as if the lines of distinc
tion between black and white were so marked
and of such a character as to be ineffaceable.
As Prof. Scomp remarks in December For
um, the basic and well nigh permanent diffi
culty of the problem is color. We can in the
course of a few years assimilate all the ac
companying traits of the Irish, we can drown
in the flood-tide of our prosperity the vindic
tiveness and laziness of the Italian; we can
even disguise so as to be scarcely recognizable
the phlegmatic characteristics of the Poles,
Huns and incomers from other Slavonic na-
tions, but when we come to intermingling our
good old Saxon blood and ways with those of
the African, we stop. The blood of a high
spirited negro no doubt often boils at the in
dignities to which he is subjected at the
present day. True he has to a certain extent
his own churches and schools, the rules of the
store and street, and the customs of most
railways are not such as to interfere materially
with his convenience, but it is in the higher
avenues of life, in the political, social, religious
and educational spheres of the country, that
he finds his progress so effectually blocked,
that it must ofttimes cause feelings of inde
scribable bitterness to rankle within his breast.
Yet it cannot be otherwise. History has
never yet afforded instances where two races,
residing together and differing so radically
have amicably adjusted their mutual affairs.
The prejudice against the black man, though
disavowed by some and that with a desire of
sincerity, and though it is almost unfelt in the